The future of Tigers playmaker Luke Brooks has come under the microscope after it was revealed the merger club are preparing a play for veteran halfback Mitchell Pearce.
The merger club reportedly made a move to sign the 33-year-old from his current club in France, Catalans Dragons, prior to Christmas.
But after Mitchell Moses turned his back on their mammoth contract offer and a disappointing 0-4 start to their campaign, Tim Sheens is looking for solutions.
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As it stands, Luke Brooks is without a contract for 2024 and is earning a reported $1.1 million this season.
The 28-year-old is one of the NRL’s most heavily criticised players, and with Pearce firming as a solution for the Tigers’ woes — his future at the club could be in doubt.
However, Fox League’s James Hooper has revealed that during Brooks’ negotiations regarding a potential move to the Knights last season, the club made their playmaker a big promise.
“There has been some talk around the game that when the negotiations were going on to try and move him to Newcastle that his management said well he can stay but we’d like an understanding he will also be here for 2024,” Hooper said.
“So if that’s the case, it is only verbal, nothing has been finalised.”
The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis also explained that if Brooks is to sign a contract extension with the club, his current salary will be slashed.
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“Kenty says Luke Brooks is a million-dollar player, he won’t be a million-dollar player next year, that’s what his current contract is worth, but he’s not worth half that on the open market,” Carayannis said.
“There’s no doubt if they signed Mitchell Moses, Luke Brooks wasn’t going anywhere, same agent, they are close mates so he was staying.
“So they do have Luke Brooks in their plans somehow, whether that is flipped or not since Moses decided to stay at the Eels, I’m not sure.”
In 2022, Brooks was at his best alongside Jackson Hastings, who has since joined the Knights in an off-season swap deal with prop David Klemmer.
Hastings was able to take the organising and kicking duties off Brooks, who focused purely on running the ball and creating spark in broken play.
NRL360 host Braith Anasta explained that Pearce, who has played 332 NRL games, could be the solution for the misfiring Tigers.
However, his signing is still a “band-aid” solution according to the former NSW representative.
“What numbers are we talking here… $750,000 per-year over two years, in my opinion and no disrespect to the halves they have now, he’d do a better job than both of them, but he is getting a bit on,” Anasta said.
“He is a leader, he’s dominant and he is a traditional half, I think he would bring a lot of direction that they don’t have.
Kent and Carayannis go at it! | 01:37
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“If you can get him at the right price, I think he’s definitely way better than the two they have got there at the moment but I still think it’s a band-aid.”
NRL360 co-host Paul Kent also pointed to the Tigers’ touted five-year plan, with Benji Marshall succeeding Tim Sheens as head coach.
He believes signing a veteran halfback for only two seasons is only a short term solution, that unfortunately “makes sense”.
“What it does is it delays this whole five-year plan that we have been hearing about, every Tigers fan got sold on the five-year plan with Sheens there for two years and Benji to take over after that,” Kent said.
“And the best solution they came up with to fix their problems was to go to a halfback that hasn’t played in the competition for several years, who is about to turn 34-years-old.
“Chuck the two halves we have out, and one of them is on over a million dollars a year.
“But do you know what the problem with the Tigers is, it makes sense, that’s the problem, the solution to their problems is to go a pick a halfback in France that hasn’t played for a few years.
“They’ve also had offers to offload Luke Brooks and they have rejected them all.”
